Native American Voter Suppression

Native American Voter Suppression

Katie Noyd, Journalist

Being able to vote is a right given to all U.S. citizens. The most U.S. citizens out of anyone would be the people here before the first thirteen colonies. The Native Americans played a huge role in growing farming, hunting, and surviving in America. The first settlers in America were the Native Americans.  According to www.nativepartnership.org today only 22% of America is made up of Native Americans. Today, America has taken the Native Americans, put them through camps, took their land, and is now taking their right to vote. On October 9th of this year, North Dakota, home of the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation, added a new law enforcing the necessity of having a voter ID and exact address in order to vote in the upcoming election. The idea of having a voter ID and address is respectable, but it is nearly impossible to meet these accommodations in less than a month. This is thought to be a republican tactic to prevent many democrat Native Americans from reaching the polls. Many of the Native Americans on the reservation were left scrambling to attempt to reach the polls on November 6th. Now that the people of the North Dakota reservations are aware of the new law, South Dakota reservations such as Standing Rock are preparing for this upcoming change as well in order to keep the Native Americans out of the polls.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/us/politics/north-dakota-voter-identification-registration.html